Secondhand Sinners (25 page)

“There ain’t a soul in this town who’ll believe that. Everyone knows…”

Alan was still speaking, but Emily couldn’t understand anything he was saying. No matter how much she blinked, she couldn’t focus on him. It was like she was under water, going deeper and deeper below. “A…Ab…” She couldn’t make her mouth form the words. She used what strength she had left to call out to Abby and tell her to run.

She was still standing, holding on to Abby, looking into her terrified eyes when everything went black.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Miller

Miller sat in the waiting room turning his phone over and over in his palm while he waited for the doctor to come in and tell him what had happened to Emily. Owens and a few of his men were at the nursing home when the dispatcher’s voice came through all three men’s radios. Miller heard the words
bank
and
woman in her thirties
and told Owens he had to go. Owens refused, saying something about how suspicious it was that he was the one who kept finding the bleach syringes. Miller wasn’t about to stick around.

“You’ve got my number,” he said and took off, making it to the bank in time to see the paramedics load an unconscious Emily into the back of their truck. Newton Longbow filled him in. The first time Alan had come in, he claimed he was there on police business and needed to get into the box. Newton told him to come back with a warrant or the right papers and the key. Yes, there was a young girl with them. In all the commotion of taking care of the lady, he didn’t see where she or Alan went. Miller went to Alan’s and then home. There was no sign of Alan or Abby.

So there Miller sat, waiting for Abby to call and tell him she was okay, waiting for Emily to wake up so she could tell him where Alan took his daughter and he could tell her he wasn’t any closer to finding her son, waiting for Sheriff Owens to come back so he could confirm what Miller already knew. Alan had taken Abby, and they both were missing.

The doctor who told Miller he’d have to wait outside the room—
Sorry, Mr. Anderson, family only
—came around the corner. Miller stood, trying to read his facial expression. Damn doctor was probably a poker player on the weekends.

The doctor gave him a quick nod. “She’s okay. Just a concussion. I want to keep her here overnight for observation and so our nurses can wake her every few hours. They’re moving her to a room now.”

“That’s it?”

Sheriff Owens walked through the door, took his cowboy hat off, and nodded at both of them. “Doc. Miller. How’s the patient?”

The doctor nodded at Owens and then said, “She’s asking to see Miller.”

Miller started to follow him to Emily’s room, but Owens held him back. “I have a few questions for you.”

“Did you find Abby?”

“Well, we’ve been out to Alan’s. Checked out your place too. Now when is it you claim your daughter went missing?”

“I’m not claiming anything. Alan took her. He broke into my house when I wasn’t home and held Emily and Abby hostage. This was after he kidnapped Jack and beat up Emily.”

“Didn’t see any sign of break in at your place.”

“That’s because he has a key.”

“Well if he has a key, then it’s not a break in. Your daughter prone to running away?”

“Of course not.”

“Maybe she has herself a boyfriend she don’t want you to know about and she’s gone off with him.”

“She doesn’t have a boyfriend, and she hasn’t gone off with anyone because Alan took her.”

“Alan says he took her home, and now he’s at home. Alone.”

This was exactly what Miller was afraid of. The good ol’ boys were circling the wagon. “He’s lying.”

“Went out to his place and talked to him, and there ain’t no one in his house except for him.”

“Did you search his house? Did you even look for her?”

“I did my due diligence. He’s admittin’ to being with her and Emily at the bank, but after Emily showed him the drugs in her pocket and then threatened your daughter—”

“Emily doesn’t do drugs, and she didn’t threaten Abby.”

“She had drugs in her pocket and in her car, and she threatened to take your daughter and hand her over to some clients in some kind of sex slave trade deal, so Alan had to threaten to pull his gun on her. It was luck that Emily fainted.”

“Can’t you even understand how crazy that sounds?”

Owens shrugged. “Video at the bank confirms it. Course, there’s no sound. I’m sure you know what they say ‘bout actions speaking louder than words. Now I’m not sayin’ Alan’s the smartest tool in my shed, but a kidnapper he ain’t. So if your daughter’s not home, she must’ve left of her own accord.”

“Abby would’ve called me by now. Think about it. Emily doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t sell them either. If she has drugs on her, it’s because Alan put them there.”

“Ladies over at the beauty salon said they were eating lunch together at Thunderbird Diner, lookin’ real comfortable.”

“Those ladies don’t know anything. Remember, he lied to her to get her to go with him. In case you didn’t notice, the asshole put bruises all over her too. He’s been holding her hostage all day.”

“I’ll trust my own asshole over a pregnant, teenaged runaway any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I’m placing her under arrest.”

“You’re arresting
her
? For what?”

“Possession of drugs. Might have to add with intent to sell. I’m on my way to tell her right now. I’ve got Officer Eaton on his way here now to stand guard in front of her room.”

This could not be happening. How could they do this to her? She came back into town to help her brother, and the whole town had turned on her. Why? Because when she ran away as a pregnant teenager, she robbed them of the joy of being able to shove their accusing fingers in her face and whisper behind her back. They’d been waiting fourteen years to judge her. The sad thing was that up until a few days ago, Miller was one of them.

“I’m coming with you.”

They went down the hallway the doctor had disappeared into and found her room with the help of an eager nurse who pointed out the room without them even asking. Yet another accusing finger for the runaway pregnant teenager. When they walked into the room, Emily was up and dressed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Owens asked.

“I’m going to find our children, unless you’re here to tell me you found them and Alan’s locked away on three counts of kidnapping.”

“Hey, Em,” Miller said, trying to soften the blow of the bad news Owens looked so eager to spill. “Alan’s at home alone. He’s saying some things.”

“Like what?”

“Well,” Owens adjusted his hat and took a step closer to her, “he said it was your idea to go to the bank, that you needed to get something out of that box. When he found out you were looking for money for your business and told you that—”

“My business? What are you…Oh no.” She reached into her pocket. “It’s gone.”

“Paramedics found it and handed it over to us.”

“That bag isn’t mine. Alan put it in my pocket after he knocked me out.”

“He said you’d say that. He also told us that once he informed you that as an officer of the law he had no choice but to bring you in, you got aggressive and threatened Abby Anderson.”

“That’s not what happened at all. He said he’d do this! He’s lying!”

“I gotta say, the video at the bank does corroborate his story.”

“Let me guess, there’s no audio to go with that video, is there?”

“Nope.”

“Don’t you see? He made up that story to fit the video.”

“What I see is a woman who’s floundering, who has more lies than road to run them on.”

“I’m in the hospital with a concussion, for Christ’s sake. Look at my face. You think I did this to myself? And where’s my son, Sheriff? You think I dropped him off at the local day care?”

“It’s really none’a my business what folks do in their own beds…or in other folk’s beds as the case may be. You can’t accuse someone of foul play if you gave your consent.”

“Consent? Is that what he said? Why in the world would I ask someone to beat me up and give me a concussion?”

“He takes full responsibility for playing a little too hard. He’s not used to that kind of…play.”

“I don’t believe this,” Emily said.

“I see this all the time. Young women who’ve read that book about all the shades of gray, wanting to have a little fun themselves, wanting to try something different. Then they get embarrassed about it.”

“I did not ask to be hit. I did not ask for Jack or Abby to be taken away. I did not have sex with Alan.”

“But you did have sex with Alan a while back, right? And you say your son’s been missing, only you haven’t filed a missing person report. Would you like to do that now?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Owens scoffed.

She looked at Miller like she was begging for an answer, and he was pretty sure he knew the question. What would Alan do to Jack and Abby if she filed a report? Then she nodded. “Yes.”

“All right.” Owens hooked his thumbs into the waist of his Dickies. “Officer Eaton will help you file a report, right after he reads you your rights.” Then he walked out the door.

Miller waited until he left. “Are you sure filing a report is a good idea? Alan might—”

“Alan’s been lying to me all day. I can’t even trust that he hasn’t already hurt Jack.”

“Do you think he’ll hurt Abby?”

“He yelled at her a few times, scared her. He didn’t touch her.”

“Do you think he will…I mean…” He hated to even think about this, and he was terrified of her answer, but he needed to ask the question. “He’s like Hoyt, ya know? He likes young girls.”

Emily’s face went even paler. “He was mostly focused on getting the money.”

“Was there any money?”

“No, only a blue notebook. Whatever was in it made him really mad. What about that lady who’s helping Alan? Did you find her?”

“Not yet. I’m still waiting for the receptionist at her…” Miller stopped. She still didn’t know about her mom or her dad. Was this the right time and place to tell her? Probably not. First things first, they needed to find their children. “I’m waiting for someone at her job to get a peek at her employment records. She’ll call me as soon as she can.”

“I have to get out of here.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Would you stay here if you were me?”

She was right. No way in hell would he lie around in a hospital bed while Abby was out there alone with Alan. There was a major problem, though. “You’re under arrest.”

Emily went to the window and tried to open it. “Damn it. It’s sealed shut.”

“I’ll find them,” Miller said. “And when I’ve got them, Abby will be able to clear up a lot.”

“That’s probably why he took her, you know? Because she heard him tell me he planted the drugs on me and my car.”

“Abby and Jack are probably together now.”

“That’s true.”

“There’s so much I need to apologize for. I’m sorry I brought him to your house. I thought you’d be out for hours working, and I had no idea Abby would be home so early.”

“I picked her up from school and told her she was adopted.”

“How’d she take it?”

“She already knew.”

Emily smiled. “She’s pretty sharp, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell her where you got her? Did you tell her about me? Cause she didn’t act any differently.”

“I didn’t tell her. I don’t even know what to tell her.”

“I’m her mom.”

“Who’s her dad?”

The smile on Emily’s face slowly melted into a frown. “You are. I told you that.”

“I don’t have Wilson’s. Daniel had Wilson’s, not me.”

“I did not have sex with Daniel, so if she has Wilson’s Disease she had to have gotten some other way.”

“Exactly.” Miller rubbed the back of his neck, which was feeling tense. He wanted to say it, wanted to spit it out so he could get the bitter taste of it out of his mouth. “Which is why that whole thing with you having sex with Alan is so twisted.”

“That was so long ago, when I was twenty-one. I had just talked to Levi, and he told me he saw you and your wife and child. I was so sad I went to a bar and got drunk. Alan showed up and I got more wasted. I found out today that he basically stalked me.”

“But…Alan?” Judging by how odd his face felt, he knew he was looking at Emily with something close to disgust. Judging by the hurt in her eyes, it was cutting her deep.

“If it makes you feel any better, I had that same look on my face the next morning when I looked in the mirror.”

“I should hope so.”

“I feel ridiculous enough about it. I really don’t need you to add to my shame.”

“I found him in my bed, on top of my wife.”

“I had no idea that he would sleep with Sara while you were still married.”

“It’s not that. I don’t understand how you could stand to be with that asshole after what happened with Hoyt. They’re practically the same person.”

“Nothing happened with Hoyt.”

“You have to stop denying it. If you could have acknowledged it to begin with and been honest with me about what he was doing to you, I would’ve taken you away from here. We could’ve been together.”